Please take a moment to check the list of key senators to contact and be a voice for vulnerable children. An email or call from you today, this weekend or on Monday will really help. We’ve included the senator’s phone and fax numbers as well as the email of the lead staff on foreign policy. Senate offices do monitor and tabulate the feedback and concerns of their constituents. Even if they don’t immediately respond, your e-mail is registered, and your voice is heard. Thank you for speaking out for children.

When calling your senator:

Call the phone number above and tell the person answering the phone that you are a constituent from (your hometown).

Say that you’re calling to urge your Senator to oppose all additional cuts to the International Affairs Budget.

Use the additional talking points below if you’d like.

Talking Points on Senate Action on the FY12 International Affairs Budget

International Affairs programs help tackle the root causes of poverty, conflict and extremism, respond to humanitarian crises, and also build new markets for U.S. goods and services.

But these programs are being forced to shoulder disproportionately deep budget cuts – cuts that are not in our nation’s best interests.

The International Affairs Budget absorbed nearly 20 percent of the total spending cuts in the final FY11 spending agreement earlier this year, even though it’s only 1.4 percent of the budget.

With the FY12 State-Foreign Operations bill on the Senate floor, the International Affairs Budget is vulnerable to amendments that would make additional deep cuts.

These amendments, if adopted, could result in the steepest cuts to International Affairs programs since the height of the Cold War.

These are real cuts with harmful consequences, especially for vulnerable children – the children whom ChildFund serves.

We urge you to oppose any cutting amendments to the FY12 State-Foreign Operations bill during Senate floor consideration.

As Congress and the Super Committee work to reduce our nation’s deficits, I respectfully urge you to oppose any cuts to the International Affairs budget, which funds programs for hungry and poor children around the world.

Worldwide, nearly 1 billion people are hungry, and one child dies every 3.6 seconds from poverty, hunger and preventable diseases. This isn’t the time for Congress to cut programs that provide vital assistance to those in need.

Programs for hungry and poor people make up only a fraction of the federal budget, but they have a tremendous impact. Yet the International Affairs Budget that funds these programs absorbed nearly 20 percent of the total spending cuts in the final FY11 spending agreement earlier this year, even though it’s only 1.4 percent of the budget. A vote on the International Affairs budget, which will come up for a vote in the Senate any day, is vulnerable to amendments that would make additional deep cuts.

International poverty-focused development assistance reduces the likelihood of conflict and strengthens our national security. Moreover, cuts to poverty-focused development assistance will restrict our ability to respond to humanitarian emergencies, such as the ongoing famine in the Horn of Africa.

We must care for and protect the most vulnerable children. As you consider deficit-reduction proposals, I ask you to take a balanced and fair approach and consider all areas of the budget, including revenues. Please form a circle of protection around funding for hungry and poor people at home and abroad.